Bridgewater State officials silent in day care director's case

Friday

Sep 8, 2017 at 11:45 AMSep 8, 2017 at 3:08 PM

Judith Ritacco, who was arrested in April 2015 after a former university student was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting at least two young boys inside the day care, admitted to sufficient facts for a guilty finding Thursday morning.

Sara Cline The Enterprise @saraclinenews

BRIDGEWATER – Bridgewater State University officials did not have any response to Thursday’s sentencing of the former director of the now-closed day care at BSU.

Judith Ritacco, who was arrested in April 2015 after a former university student was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting at least two young boys inside the day care, admitted to sufficient facts for a guilty finding Thursday morning on the charges of reckless endangerment of a child, failing to report suspected child abuse as a mandated reporter and witness intimidation.

Judge Michael Vitali, at the Brockton District Court, sentenced Ritacco, who lives in Boylston, to serve three years of probation, but did not issue a guilty finding. Her case was continued without a finding, meaning it will be dismissed if she does not violate her probation.

He also ordered that Ritacco not have a supervisory role at any facility that cares for or serves children.

“The university is not offering any reaction to today’s court action,” Eva Gaffney a spokeswoman for BSU said Thursday afternoon.

The Enterprise attempted to reach BSU President Frederick Clark and BSU board of trustees but received no response as of Thursday evening.

Ritacco was hired approximately two years before the 2015 scandal shook the community.

In the wake of the incident, the day care closed for more than a week to train staff and make changes to the facility, included hiring an interim day care director, retraining staff about child abuse reporting protocols and removing an area called “the loft” where some of the alleged abuse was believed to have taken place. Security cameras were also installed.

About a quarter of the children who attended the facility did not return, and the center closed for good at the end of the last academic year.

In March 2017, Loughlin pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and abuse of a child, three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and one count of larceny. He was sentenced to 7 years in jail followed by a decade of probation.

“Mrs. Ritacco took her role as daycare director and mandatory reporter and failed these young victims, who were only 3 and 4 years old at the time,” Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said in a press release. “From the beginning, this has been about getting justice for these children and their families and I am hopeful that today’s resolution helps them move forward with their lives.”

Gaffney told The Enterprise Thursday that BSU will no longer offer childcare services.

“Use of the space in Burnell Hall formerly occupied by the Children’s Center, which closed less than three months ago, is under consideration,” Gaffney said.